The document discusses how the media product challenges conventions of the alternative genre. It analyzes the music video created for the song "Things We Lost in the Fire" by Bastille. The music video focuses on developing a clear narrative over including stylistic elements like band performances. It uses symbolism and a chronological narrative structure with flashbacks. Black and white filming is used to represent memories of the protagonist. The editing matches lyrics but also allows narrative progression. Overall, the music video challenges conventions like complex intertextual references and visuals matching lyrics in order to prioritize narrative clarity.

1. Evaluation – Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?

2. Alternative Conventions
 During A2, I had already created a document referring
to the conventions of the alternative. I looked upon this
work to help develop my understanding of the
characteristics.

3. Original Ideas
 For our original song choice we had decided on three songs.
The chosen songs were:
 Nina Nesbitt – Mr C
 Kodaline – High Hopes
 Bastille – Things We Lost In The Fire

4. Bastille – Things We Lost in The Fire
Conventions
 Dark and Dismal - Lighting
 Enigma
 Large group of people
 Obscure Environments
 Use of animals
 Close up of a bullet, suggests violence
 Another group of people, running whilst wearing
obscure outfits hiding their identities
 Performance Element
 Slow Motion
 Symbolism – the car, featured on all of their products

5. Music Video Conventions
 Alternative videos may be seen to use a basic style within
their music videos with a understanding of independency
and struggle due to support or money. Many alternative
videos may also hint at a narrative but usually do not
explore them to create a sense of enigma. The use of
black and white filters are very popular among
alternative artists with low key lighting. Some may even
use older cameras or edit the video in a manner allowing
them to create a retro feel to the product. Mis en scene
has no clear pattern as it depends on the individual artist.

6. Our Music Video
 In comparison to the conventions of alternative videos with our own, we
have managed to follow the alternative stereotypes. The narrative of our
piece has been developed in a sense that there is a clear narrative that is
understandable. However we did not use any supposed “band
members” and chose to suggest that the characters featured were in
fact, just characters. Our group also implemented theming into the video,
something quite anti-stereotypical for the genre. In addition to theming,
we used symbolism which we incorporated across all the products
constructed. The symbol used was the wallet which features across all of
our products. A standard for many alternative music videos is the
performance element, something we challenged in our piece by focusing
on narrative. Intertexual references are another convention we
challenged and did not feature in the piece as we felt they weren’t
necessary in terms of plot and would become complex if they weren’t
understood. One final convention we challenged is the use of visuals
matching lyrics as we felt this was not necessary in our video. Our music
video features a chronological narrative throughout the clip. However
there are moments which s how flashback scenes which allow the
narrative to proceed and improve the understanding. The setting of the
video was something we did not challenge in comparsion to alternative
video conventions as we stayed in the same location throughtout the
whole video, deciding to use outdoor locations instead of interior.

7. Our Advert and Digipak
 Symbolism is used as the wallet is one of the key focuses of
the advert. After we received group feedback, there was a
clear understanding that using the wallet as a digipak
design was essential and popular. This is when we decided
upon the wallet being a key figure in all our products. A very
general idea in the alternative genre is to use an actual
image for the cover and this something we have
challenged by enforcing the idea of the digipak being a
wallet. Across the adverts and banners, the same symbols
have been used as a way of promoting the debut. The use
of QR code is a challenge towards the genre due to the
fact social media is usually the main focus, something we
decided against as we believed the QR code was easier
and more interactive. The same fonts have also been
addressed across the formats as a way of continuation.

8. Products
Magazine Advert
Standard Album Cover
Pre-Order Banner
Final Release Advert
Deluxe Album Cover

9. One convention of the
alternative genre is the use
of close ups. In Lana Del
Rey’s “Shades of Cool”
video, she is pictured here
walking along with a close
up on her face. The use of
this shot allows the viewer
to be clear of the central
character of the narrative.
Even though the character
below is not the artist of the
song, he is still the key
character in the video.

10. One convention of the alternative
genre is the use of slow motion.
This editing technique allows the
director and artist of the video to
create a certain atmosphere to
the video they are creating. The
top image shows a still from a
video by “The xx” with their single
“Chained”. Our video also
features speed editing as the still
below shows our protagonist
tearing up a photo and throwing it
to the ground to which this section
is in slow motion to create
dramatic effect. By using slow
motion in this respect, we have
followed the conventions of the
genre.

11. Black and white is a common
characteristic of the alternative
genre, something we have
implemented into our product. Our
use of the colour scheme allows
the viewer to distinguish the time
period of the video. Black and
white represents the past and the
memories of our protagonist. The
top still is from the video
“Gentleman Who Fell” by “Milla
Jovovich”. The video, with a
release from 1994 sees the entire
clip presented in black and white.
This creates a very gothic feel to
the video. Most videos use black
and white to create a certain
atmosphere, something we have
challenged in our video by using
black and white to help improve
the understanding of the narrative.

12. Editing can assist the flow and
production of a music video and
Alternative genre videos tend to focus
on this aspect to improve the quality of
their video. Many alternative videos
will successfully match their editing
alongside the beat of the track. In the
case of “Lower Than Atlantis’s Here We
Go”, the clip begins to change shot
correspondingly to the drums on the
audio. The bass drum appears to be
the usual cause for the change of shot.
Our music video challenges this
convention by following the same
traditions but due to the track, we
chose to change the shot (allowing
narrative progression) usually at the
end of lyrics line. As well as the
progression, the use of live footage
also matches the lyrics of the track.
Because the song is the same as the
footage shown, we made it possible to
match the vocals with the visuals.

13. An abstract convention of the
genre is the implementation of
dance. Many alternative videos
feature dance that features a
certain style but is mainly
improvised. The dances which
are usually not choreographed
allow the video to create
different atmospheres. “Lorde’s
Yellow Flicker Beat” is a dramatic
soundtrack and her unique
sense of dancing is a
characteristic most viewers will
expect form her now. “No
Doubt’s Push and Shove
however features the band
roaming the streets with random
dances to create a fun feel to
the band. This convention is
something as a group, we feel
we did not need to use. Dance
would have not benefitted the
clip in any way.

14. A popular convention for alternative
rock bands is to feature a
performance element in the video.
Most music videos constructed by
bands usually do not follow a
narrative. “Red Hot Chili Peppers –
The Adventures of Rain Dance
Maggie” features a rooftop
performance to showcase the
band’s return to music. However,
“Linkin Park’s – Castle Of Glass”
which features a performance
element, also includes a narrative.
This is very anti stereotypical for
alternative rock. For our product, we
chose to focus on narrative rather
then a performance. Even though
there were possibilities to include
both performance and narrative
elements, we decided against it as
narrative was more important to us.

15.  An alternative convention we
have featured in our product is the
use of a split screen. We chose to
film “before and after” footage.
We believed this would improve
the visuals for our video and group
feedback suggests that it worked
well in the feature. A similar video
that also uses the editing of split
screens is “The Vaccines’s –
Melody Calling”. Their use of the
split screen is different in
comparison to ours due to the fact
their use is solely for narrative. The
split screen sees two of the videos
main characters conversing on
the phone, allowing the viewer to
see both characters at the same
time. This however was a common
theme throughout the video with
the introduction of three split
screens as well.